THE ORGANIC CONCEPT OF SOCIETY I4I 
society whereas the latter violates those sentiments held so 
generally and so strongly that the group reacts as a unit. He 
shows that crime cannot be explained wholly on the basis of 
disutility because many acts are tolerated which are far more 
disuseful than many which are regarded as crimes; yet his dis- 
cussion shows that the principle of utility is after all of great 
importance.! 
The social reaction expressed in repressive right is called 
mechanical for it corresponds to the instinctive reactions of 
biological organisms against irritants. The object of the reaction 
is to be free from the irritant, and on the whole the reaction of 
society against crime, though largely instinctive and irrational, is 
useful.2 This mechanical solidarity expressed in repressive right 
is especially characteristic of primitive societies, the determina- 
tion of crime and punishment among higher societies having a 
more rational basis,? though even here the function of punish- 
ment is to conserve the feeling of social solidarity rather than 
reform the criminal! ‘ Every strong state of consciousness,” he 
says, ‘‘is a source of life; it is an essential factor of our general 
vitality. As a result, everything which tends to weaken it 
diminishes and depresses us. . . . It is inevitable then that we 
should react vigorously against any cause which threatens such 
diminution; that we arouse ourselves to remove it in order that 
we may maintain the integrity of consciousness.” * This is as 
true of social as of individual consciousness.® 
Durkheim explains the quasi-religious character of criminal 
procedure (le droit penal) as due to the fact that the sentiment of 
vengeance expressed in passional reaction against the criminal is 
felt by each member of society yet not as a sentiment having 
personal origin or reference but rather as an echo of something 
™ No one asserts that the social struggle is so keen as to eliminate everything 
disuseful; yet on the whole and in the long run social consciousness is able to 
determine and does determine the socially disuseful and the society that fails to 
determine its crimes on this basis is on the road to destruction. Cf. Hall, Crime 
in its Relation to Social Progress. This seems to be Durkheim’s position. Cf. 
De la Division du Travail Social, pp. 87 f., 114 f. 
2 Tbid., pp. 89 ff. 3 Ibid., pp. ot f. 4 Ibid., pp. 94 f. 
5 [bid., ps 103. 8 Tbid., pp. 109, 114. 
